09/11/2010 - LIVE TO PRAISE THE LORD

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The dead do not praise the LORD, nor any who go down into silence. (Psalm 115:17)

The psalmist was used by God to open people’s eyes about several issues – one of them is that the dead cannot praise the Most High. However, does it have to do with those who have departed for eternity or those who have not been born again?

Praise to the Name of the Lord is truly given when we achieve some blessings, for example, healing and deliverance. So when man says he praises the Most High without meaning it he is actually rendering Him a meaningless worship. But when one is freed from temptation or is cured of a disease or receives the solution to any other kind of problem, then he is really able to say: "Father, I praise you for this or that."

Someone once defined the praise to the Almighty as an act through which we thank Him or honor Him for what He did for us – which is quite different from the worship given to Him for the simple fact that He is God. To praise is the extolling or exaltation of someone’s virtues and qualities. So how could we truly do it for the Lord if He were not operating in us?

The psalmist says that the dead do not render praises to the Creator. This means that people who have not yet been born again are not able to praise Him. Then, the lost, even with the best of intentions, cannot worship God, after all the praise that pleases Him, and therefore weighs in the spiritual world is the one given by those who are born in the Lord. Then they receive the divine inspiration and with the help of the Holy Spirit they give themselves to Him. By the way, there are lots of advices in God’s Word indicating that the Almighty can only receive what He first gave us (Romans 11:35-36). David, for example, said that his praise would be of Him in the great assembly of God (Psalm 22:25).

Spiritual death, which came upon mankind when Adam sinned (Romans 5:12), lasts until man converts and is born again. Until this happens, man is spiritually dead and as such he is not able to praise the Lord and does not have permission to obtain divine inspiration. Moreover, Christ Himself said that without Him, man can do nothing (John 15:5).

My brethren, the time to praise God is now. So let us take advantage of it and live the divine work intensely, doing it with love and dedication, because in order for our God to be duly praised we must also attract more people who are willing to be born again. Then, we will be able to enjoy the holy privilege of praising the Lord. When we work for Him wholeheartedly, He is pleased and as a result blessings will be multiplied to us.

In Christ with love,

R. R. Soares